SNV30239

Blogging about

I blog about:

Monday, 10 September 2012

greek style yoghurt...from Leicestershire

I love Greek yoghurt.....there's something about it's dreamy, creamy softness and freshness that never fails to hit the spot.

The first time I ate it for breakfast was in the Greek Islands years ago.....sitting squinting in the sunshine, the azure sea in front of us. Although before nine o clock, it was already hot, and the refreshingly cool sheeps yoghurt topped with thyme scented honey was the perfect start to the day.

From then on I would buy imported greek yoghurt to eat with honey, or to use as a base for a dip, or as a topping on tarts or crumbles.

So that left me in a bit of a quandary when I started my local eating challenge ...yes, I could easily buy locally produced yoghurt, but I hadn't found one with the tangy greek style taste I wanted.

Until about four months ago. I bumped into Peter Holmes from Manor Farm Dairy in Thrussington. Well, I didn't literally bump into him you understand, he was a doing a special tasting at a local farm shop, but one spoonful of the yoghurt, and I was hooked. I've been buying it ever since.

I went over to his farm a few weeks back to see how he, and his team make the yoghurt..... and you can listen here...

I went over early one afternoon, when over 200 cows had lined themselves up ready to be milked - between them they produce about a million and a half litres of milk which makes a quarter of a million litres of yoghurt.

The team of 5 or 6 people working in the dairy make both greek style yoghurt and low fat fruit yoghurts which are sold locally in small outlets and in five branches of Waitrose.

And guess what I had for breakfast yesterday morning , sitting in the sunshine ? Not topped with honey but with blackberries I picked from the garden a few minutes beforehand.....

I know in the current economic climate Greece needs all the help it can get, and the country does produce some exceedingly good yoghurt, but now, at least for me, local food rules.....